Various surgical procedures are routinely carried out intravascularly or intraluminally. For example, in the treatment of vascular disease, such as arteriosclerosis, it is a common practice to access the artery and insert an instrument (e.g., a balloon or other type of catheter) to carry out a procedure within the artery. Such procedures usually involve the percutaneous puncture of the artery so that an insertion sheath may be placed in the artery and thereafter instruments (e.g., catheters) may pass through the sheath to an operative position within the artery. Intravascular and intraluminal procedures unavoidably present the problem of stopping the bleeding at the percutaneous puncture during certain points of the procedure or after the procedure has been completed. Bleeding from puncture sites, particularly in the case of femoral arterial punctures, is typically stopped by utilizing vascular closure devices.
One method of temporary vascular closure is to apply pressure to the interior wall of a lumen, such as a blood vessel, surrounding a puncture with a balloon attached to a catheter. The balloon is inserted through the puncture, after which the balloon is inflated within the lumen. A tensile force is then applied to the catheter by a surgeon to pull the inflated balloon against the interior of the lumen wall to temporarily close the puncture in the lumen wall. If a surgeon does not apply sufficient tensile force to the catheter, the balloon may not apply adequate pressure to the lumen wall to close the puncture. If a surgeon applies too much force to the catheter, however, the balloon may apply a pressure to the lumen wall that causes damage to the lumen wall and/or surrounding tissue. For example, if a surgeon applies too much force to the catheter it may cause separation of layers of the lumen wall, which may result in a hematoma or other complications.